In the construction of buildings primarily of commercial design, it is well-known to use a raised floor in areas of heavy electrical equipment usage such as computer rooms and the like. A raised floor permits the running of electrical wire and cable, as well as other equipment, beneath the raised surface.
In order to provide access to the electrical wire and cable, an opening is cut through the floor at a desired location, and the wire and cable are run up into a box supported in the opening where it is terminated in conventional fashion with electrical receptacles to permit connection thereto of the electrical equipment supported by the floor. An in-floor access box or module is typically employed to house these receptacles and connections. These access floor modules are generally open-ended box-like containers which are inserted into an opening in the raised floor so that the open end is flush with the upper surface of the floor. A cover may be positioned over the open end to enclose the module.
In order to support the access floor module in the floor opening, brackets of various construction may be employed. The brackets presently in use are secured to the floor adjacent the opening with fastening hardware such as screws. The module is then fastened to the bracket to secure the box in the floor opening.
The brackets currently being used for such purposes require extensive installation time in that the bracket must be mechanically fastened to the floor about the opening using mounting hardware and tools to achieve such securement.
Further, quite often the raised floors have uneven floor thicknesses, and many of the available brackets do not compensate for the various thicknesses of the floor. This requires the installer to have multiple sized brackets or to relocate the access opening to a location where the floor thickness is more suitable.
In addition, with the brackets presently being used, it is often difficult to secure the module to the bracket once the bracket has been secured to the floor. The installer must insert a screw through the access module and then blindly align the screw with a tapped hole in the bracket. This further complicates the installation process.
It is desirable to provide a bracket for supporting an electrical access floor module in a floor opening which is easily securable to a raised floor and which will compensate for various floor thicknesses. It is also desirable to provide a bracket for supporting an access floor module which permits the module to be easily attached to the bracket.